Stalin's War on Japan: The Red Army's 'Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation', 1945
The first full-length popular history of the Soviet Union’s decisive offensive against the Japanese in Manchuria and Korea at the end of the Second World War.

Did Japan surrender in 1945 because of the death and devastation caused by the atomic bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or because of the crushing defeat inflicted on their armies by the Soviet Union in Manchukuo, the puppet state they set up in north-east China? Indeed, the Red Army’s rapid and total victory in Manchukuo has been relatively neglected by historians.

Charles Stephenson, in this scholarly and highly readable new study, describes the political, diplomatic and military build-up to the Soviet offensive and its decisive outcome. He also considers to what extent Japan’s capitulation is attributable to the atomic bomb or the stunningly successful entry of the Soviet Union into the conflict.

The military side of the story is explored in fascinating detail – the invasion of Manchukuo itself where the Soviet ‘Deep Battle’ concept was employed with shattering results, and secondary actions in Korea, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

But equally absorbing is the account of the decision-making that gave rise to the offensive and the political and diplomatic background to it, and in particular the Yalta conference. There, Stalin allowed the Americans to persuade him to join the war in the east; a conflict he was determined on entering anyway.

Charles Stephenson’s engrossing narrative throws new light on the last act of the Second World War.
"1138891633"
Stalin's War on Japan: The Red Army's 'Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation', 1945
The first full-length popular history of the Soviet Union’s decisive offensive against the Japanese in Manchuria and Korea at the end of the Second World War.

Did Japan surrender in 1945 because of the death and devastation caused by the atomic bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or because of the crushing defeat inflicted on their armies by the Soviet Union in Manchukuo, the puppet state they set up in north-east China? Indeed, the Red Army’s rapid and total victory in Manchukuo has been relatively neglected by historians.

Charles Stephenson, in this scholarly and highly readable new study, describes the political, diplomatic and military build-up to the Soviet offensive and its decisive outcome. He also considers to what extent Japan’s capitulation is attributable to the atomic bomb or the stunningly successful entry of the Soviet Union into the conflict.

The military side of the story is explored in fascinating detail – the invasion of Manchukuo itself where the Soviet ‘Deep Battle’ concept was employed with shattering results, and secondary actions in Korea, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

But equally absorbing is the account of the decision-making that gave rise to the offensive and the political and diplomatic background to it, and in particular the Yalta conference. There, Stalin allowed the Americans to persuade him to join the war in the east; a conflict he was determined on entering anyway.

Charles Stephenson’s engrossing narrative throws new light on the last act of the Second World War.
34.95 In Stock
Stalin's War on Japan: The Red Army's 'Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation', 1945

Stalin's War on Japan: The Red Army's 'Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation', 1945

by Charles Stephenson
Stalin's War on Japan: The Red Army's 'Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation', 1945

Stalin's War on Japan: The Red Army's 'Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation', 1945

by Charles Stephenson

Hardcover

$34.95 
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Overview

The first full-length popular history of the Soviet Union’s decisive offensive against the Japanese in Manchuria and Korea at the end of the Second World War.

Did Japan surrender in 1945 because of the death and devastation caused by the atomic bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or because of the crushing defeat inflicted on their armies by the Soviet Union in Manchukuo, the puppet state they set up in north-east China? Indeed, the Red Army’s rapid and total victory in Manchukuo has been relatively neglected by historians.

Charles Stephenson, in this scholarly and highly readable new study, describes the political, diplomatic and military build-up to the Soviet offensive and its decisive outcome. He also considers to what extent Japan’s capitulation is attributable to the atomic bomb or the stunningly successful entry of the Soviet Union into the conflict.

The military side of the story is explored in fascinating detail – the invasion of Manchukuo itself where the Soviet ‘Deep Battle’ concept was employed with shattering results, and secondary actions in Korea, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

But equally absorbing is the account of the decision-making that gave rise to the offensive and the political and diplomatic background to it, and in particular the Yalta conference. There, Stalin allowed the Americans to persuade him to join the war in the east; a conflict he was determined on entering anyway.

Charles Stephenson’s engrossing narrative throws new light on the last act of the Second World War.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781526785947
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Publication date: 06/28/2021
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Charles Stephenson is an established author on naval and siege warfare and the history of fortifications, with the following books in print: The Fortifications of Malta 1530-1945, Zeppelins: German Airships 1900-40, The Channel Islands 1941-45: Hitler's Impregnable Fortress, The Admirals Secret Weapon: Lord Dundonald and the Origins of Chemical Warfare and Germanys Asia-Pacific Empire: Colonialism and Naval Policy, 1885-1914. He was Consultant Editor and a contributor to Castles: A History of Fortified Structures: Ancient, Medieval & Modern. He is also the creator of the three books that (thus far) constitute the Samson Plews Collection.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 'How many divisions has the Pope?' 3

2 Manchukuo: an Army with a State 13

3 The Soviet (Deep) Battle Plan 31

4 '…at the crossroads of destiny' 45

5 The Trans-Baikal Front: the 'iron stream' 51

6 The First Far Eastern Front: Suvorov's Tactics 61

7 The Second Far Eastern Front: River Wars 81

8 'The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage' 93

9 The Second Stage: Dissolution of an Army, its State, and an Empire 103

10 Unpinched: Finishing off 'the fascist Beast of the East' 135

11 'The heart of China is in Communist hands' 149

Notes 159

Bibliography 199

Index 221

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